Silence of the Young
by Lunamon810
Summary: Rilluya Zoldyck just wanted three things. Illumi's approval, Killua's love, and her twin Alluka's love. Two of three crossed off the list, the third one proves to be much harder. Especially when it comes down to being tortured during her training from Milluki.


**Hey guys! Lunamon810 here! This is (hopefully) the final rewrite of what was originally called "Die Young", which then transitioned to "Died Young". I don't really like either of those versions anymore, and I know a lot of other people don't. I will warn any of you reading this, two things. 1. This IS a Zoldyck Sibling OC story. 2. I am still working on showing, not telling.**

**The OC in this story is one I fell in love with upon creation. I use her a lot, in one-shots, in her main story you'll see here, in roleplays, etc. She's my second favorite OC of mine, next to Ellilou. Another Zoldyck sibling OC. Anyways, I'm not going to be defensive over you hating her. Just do me the favor of explaining why you don't like her. If it's her personality, then it's not my fault. I created the OC that wanted to be created. I let my OCs create themselves. So if it's her name, then it's probably my fault, for example. **

**Despite all that, I know this version is a _lot_ better than the other two. I'm not playing God, it's written better, etc. So I really hope you enjoy it. This version is probably going to have more than two chapters, by the way. This was is 11,173 words, but proofreeding lead it to be 14, 086. Somehow. I normally write chapters roughly 4-5 thousand words, but this one kinda just took over and did it's own thing, it seems. So if the size of this chapter varies greatly from the next, well then I'm sorry for not having consistency.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HUNTER X HUNTER!**

* * *

"B-Big brother, no, wait! Wait! Hold on, you can't leave me! Don't leave me here!" Rilluya called desperately, chasing after her older brother, Killua. He was only a year older, but she looked up to him just as much as she did Illumi. He sighed, turning to face her, and she caught grabbed his arm and hugged it tightly, tears streaming down her face. Killua sighed again, hugging her close.

"Kimber... I can't take you with me. I'm sorry... But... I have to do this on my own. I'll come back for you someday, I promise. Then we can leave together. okay?" He absent-mindedly ran his hand along one of her two dark brown braids. "I'm sorry. But who would take care of Alluka if you left too?"

"B-But... I can't protect Alluka on my own... You know I can't fight Illumi, more less our parents..."

"You'll do fine, I promise," He said, kissing her forehead. "I'll see you when I come back for you. I promise." He disappeared so quickly she still felt his arms around her for a moment. She felt like the emptiness around her was swallowing her as she heard him close the door to the mansion somewhere else. She felt chills go down her back when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Rilluya. It's time to train," Illumi's voice entered her ears, and she took a deep breath, quickly wiping away her tears. She turned to face him and nodded, walking towards him. But before she reached him Kikyo appeared next to him, looking at him.

"Illumi, I need you to go after Killua for me. He doesn't need to be out there on his own; he should be here training." Illumi looked at Rilluya, then his mother. "Don't worry about her, Milluki can train her, since your father, grandfather, and I will be out on missions. Everything will be fine." Illumi nodded, and disappeared. Rilluya didn't show her disappointment or worry; the only reason she tried so hard in training was to impress Illumi. And Milluki never liked her very much.

She made her way downstairs, eventually reaching the training rooms. She quickly chained three of the four cuffs around one of her wrists and her ankles, after she'd taken off her outer layer of clothes, leaving her in her training clothes, her dark grey half-shirt and shorts. She didn't hang there long before Milluki came in and slammed her wrist into the cuff, locking it around her wrist. She looked at him, sighing. He grinned. "Finally! It's about time they let me train you! They're all too soft, they let you off too easy! Now you'll get some real training!"

"They let me off too easy? But you don't do _any_ training..." He swiftly lashed the electric whip across her face, catching her off guard. It'd been years since anyone had used it on her. She'd outgrown it at least six years ago, and her electricity training had moved on through the charges put through the chains. The whip could reach a higher voltage than her current level of training, but despite this no one'd used it on her in a long time.

"Shut up! I don't need to do training, I'm not in that branch of the business, so I don't need training! You do, and you're not receiving the training you need or deserve you little brat!" He yelled, lashing at her several more times. These lashes hit harder out of anger, so they weren't quite as swift. "So be prepared, brat! Because I'm not a softy like Illumi!"

"Illumi? Soft? Milluki, you should get out of your room more. To be soft, you have to be ruled by emotion. Which is something Illumi doesn't have." He hit her again, vertically across her mouth, making her lips sting. it left a red mark going from under her left eye to her chin, just slightly tilted,"Ow... That one stung a little..."

"Stung!? A little!? How do you turn the voltage up on this thing..." He mumbled, messing with the whip's settings. He hit her again, sending a much higher of a voltage to Rilluya's skin than she was used to. She didn't react though, if she did, Illumi would find out. And that'd be the past eleven years of her life down the drain. Milluki kept hitting her, though soon grew bored of the whip. He sent electric charges through the chains, still a higher voltage than Rilluya had ever had used on her. She still endured it though, she wouldn't let Milluki get satisfaction out of training her.

After quite a while of non-stop electricity, he turned it off, irritated that she still hadn't reacted. He went back to the whip for a while, eventually focusing on her stomach, lashing at it continuously, trying to make the spot raw so that she'd react. Though it did make her stomach bleed, his intentions of making her react to the pain failed. She kept a stubborn grip on herself, making sure she didn't so much as squeak without her intention to. He angrily growled at her, "You little brat! You're not as tough as you think, you're nowhere near as strong as Illumi or I!"

"Alluka is stronger than you, Milluki. But I never claimed to be as strong as Illumi, Illumi is thirteen years older than me. That's a lot more training, not even Killua could hope to be that strong yet."

Milluki growled, not having liked being called weak. "Lets see how long you stay awake with blood loss," He mumbled bitterly, walking over to her, knife in hand. He pretty much turned shredded the skin on her arms into ribbons, and the blood loss eventually got to her about a half hour after he got bored with that. As she faded from consciousness, he was spraying some liquid into her cuts that stung savagely. Despite the fact she'd passed out, the entire time she was awake she hadn't reacted at all.

* * *

_Three year old Rilluya laid curled up in the corner of Alluka's room. Their family rarely ever let her in here, but today she was privileged enough to be given permission to spend time in there with her twin. Though she wasn't, because Alluka was on the other side of the room with their older brother, Killua. She didn't know Killua well, and wasn't sure if he liked her or not. The rest of the family didn't seem to. She wanted to play with them, they seemed like they were having a lot of fun. Since they were having fun though, she didn't want to interrupt or intrude._

"_Twin? Come play with us!" Alluka's voice suddenly rang, and she looked over to see Killua and Alluka looking her way. She realized she had tears in her eyes, so she quickly wiped them away as she hoped they wouldn't notice. She slowly stood up and made her way over to them, sitting down with them. Alluka giggled happily and hugged her, then looked at Killua. "Onii-chan! It's okay if twin plays with us, right?"_

"_Of course it is," Killua said, patting Rilluya gently on the head. "She can play with us whenever she wants." Happiness flooded through Rilluya as they started teaching her how to play games, like rock-paper-scissors. After a few hours of playing, Rilluya decided she really liked their older brother. She'd never felt this happy, nor had she seen her twin this happy unless she was with him._

"_Come back tomorrow, okay Onii-chan? You, me, and twin can play more!" Alluka said, grinning. Killua nodded._

"_I will," He hugged Alluka, and Rilluya got really quiet. When Killua hugged her, something dawned on her. The only other person who'd ever hugged her was Alluka. She was stunned for a second, but hugged him back. Being as close as she was, she listened to his heartbeat for a second. She then realized she really liked the sound of it. When he pulled away, he smiled at her. "See you tomorrow, Rilluya. See ya Alluka."_

_"Bye Onii-chan!"_

_"Bye big brother!" Rilluya said, smiling. He smiled at them both and waved goodbye. Then he left, leaving the two twins alone. The two barely sat the for a moment before Alluka started talking._

_"See! Isn't Onii-chan great!? Don't you love him?"_

"_He's warm..." Rilluya said quietly, giving her twin a small smile,"I like him."_

_"Yay! We were afraid something might go wrong, that why he hadn't tried to talk to you before. He said he thought you liked keeping to yourself, but I told him you were lonely."_

_"L-Lonely?" Alluka nodded, and Rilluya looked down at her hands in her lap. "M-Maybe I am lonely." Alluka hugged her, snuggling against her._

"_Not anymore. Onii-chan and I won't let you be." Rilluya smiled and tightly, protectively hugged her twin back. Alluka moved in a way that made them plop onto their sides on the floor, and they both giggled. After a while, the two fell asleep like that._

* * *

_A few months later, Rilluya and Killua sat inside of Rilluya's room, playing a card game he'd recently taught her. If anyone asked her though, Rilluya would've admitted she didn't care what they did. Over the past few months, she learned that she really **loved** spending time with her big brother. He was really nice to her, and he never acted in the odd way the rest of the family did towards her. Alluka had recently been closed away anymore, and Killua had to explain that they had figured out about Nanika. She was upset about it, but slowly she'd calmed down to the point it no longer consumed her. Killua also explained that they had suspected something wrong, and that's why time around Alluka had gotten so thin and rare around the time she actually met with Killua that first day. "Hey, I'm gonna call you Kimber, okay?_

_She looked curiously at him, blinking with confusion, "Why, big brother?"_

_"Well, I don't like our family. They have a certain why they like to name us... and your name fits the system. So, I figured renaming you would help us not be like them!" Killua said, proud of the idea._

_Rilluya nodded, smiling happily at the suggestion, "Okay! But shouldn't I call you something different too then?"_

"_You already do, remember? You don't call me Killua; you call me big brother. So just keep calling me that, and neither of us have the family name," She nodded again, smiling. She liked the idea of it all, especially since her big brother had came up with it. She figured he also would've came up with a name for Alluka, but neither of them liked to mention Alluka in fear of saddening the other._

* * *

_As Killua stepped through the door to Alluka's room, having finally been let in after months. He had to do a quite a bit of negotiating, and he assumed Kimber had too since he was told she had been allowed in here. His hand was seized by someone, and he looked to see it was Alluka. This was odd to him, because Alluka had always tackled him the moment he'd come through the door in the past. Had Alluka changed **that **much over the past few months? Alluka looked worried as she tugged on his hand. "Onii-chan, there's something wrong with twin!" Killua looked across the room to see Kimber curled up, hugging her knees. She was in the corner, but her head was in the corner and her back as to the wall across from her head, her head tucked into her knees to hide her face. "She just said something about Mommy and Daddy taking her earlier then got all quiet and she's been sitting like that sense! You gotta do something, Onii-chan!"_

_Killua smiled calmly at Alluka and kissed her forehead. "It's alright, Alluka. I'll help her."_

_He walked across the room quietly and slowly. He was trying to show Kimber he wasn't going to hurt her by the way he walked, but he wasn't sure how much it was helping. Her grip around her knees got tighter the closer he got, and he was sure she was cutting of circulation by now. As he reached for her shoulder, she whimpered and jerked it even closer to the wall in front of her. He was sitting technically to her right, but he still couldn't see her face. "Go away..."_

_He frowned at Kimber's harsh mumbling. "Kimber, was today your first day of training? You're about the right age for-"_

_"Go away!" She repeated, a lot louder, sharper, and harsher. He had jumped back a bit, sending him from crouching next to her to landing on his butt behind where he had been. He got onto his knees and crawled closer to her. He stopped with his knees about half a foot from her, then he sat back with his butt on his heels. He wasn't sure what to do to keep her from freaking out. He reached for her shoulder again, but she didn't seem to notice this time. Once his hand was on her shoulder, he left it their loosely for a moment. Then he made his grip on her shoulder firmer, and she jerked her shoulder back to knock it off, then she jerked ti back forward. "I said go away!"_

_Killua sighed, bowing his head. "Kimber, if you won't answer me, I'll just assume that today **was** your first day of training. In which case... I'm sorry. There's... There's nothing I can do to prevent it."_

_He finally heard that Kimber was crying, which he hadn't thought about before hand. He realized then that she wasn't pushing him away from complete anger. She also had to feel untrusting and desolate from the rest of them. His frown turned much more forlorn. "I want you to go away."_

_"No, I'm staying right here," Killua said, switching from sitting on his knees to sitting Indian style. "I'm sorry you had to go through what you did today, Kimber. I know how hard it is... I had to go through my first day too. I-I can't lie and say it'll stop, or that it'll stop hurting... All I can do is promise that you and I will go through this together, alright?"_

_"Y-You're like them too... Aren't you... You want me to trust you so you can hurt me like Mom and Dad..." Kimber shied away from his touch again when he reached out to put his hand on her arm, having been hoping to at least coax her hand out. This time it wasn't an angry movement, but a shaky, scared one. "J-Just answer my question..."_

_"You promise you will believe my answer? Do you still trust me enough for that?" Kimber didn't move or speak, so he sighed and hoped she would anyways. "I would **never** hurt you, Kimber. The only reason I didn't warn you was... I'd been hoping that you wouldn't be trained, since Alluka wasn't going to be... I'd had some weird hope that maybe they'd treat you like they did Alluka. Not locking you away, but not training you either..."_

_"Well they didn't! Which means you should've told me!" Kimber said, seeming angry once again._

_"I know, I know... I was wrong. I was wrong to hope that. I just... I... I didn't want you to have to worry about it if it wasn't going to happen. Plus, you never know with Mom and Dad. They could've not wanted you to know at all if you weren't supposed to be trained, and they not have wanted you to know if you were and I just... I was selfish and didn't want to get punished for telling you," Tears started down Killua's cheeks, and he himself started shaking, "I'm sorry Kimber, I should've warned you. I shouldn't have been so selfish and worried about myself. I should've been a better older brother... I'm sorry... I'm a bad older brother..."_

_Kimber heard the tears in his voice, and tried to will herself not to move anyways. When she heard him sniffling while he cried though, she broke. She lifted her head to reveal her tear-coated cheeks and the tears that were still trying to form in her eyes, despite the fact she wanted to be mad, not sad. She reached up and wiped Killua's forming tears away with the back of her pointer finger, "Don't cry, big brother."_

_After a moment of the two looking at each other, Kimber got onto her knees and hugged him around his neck. She sniffled before speaking again, "I never meant to make you cry, big brother... I'm sorry!"_

_Killua hugged her back, pulling her close enough that it took her off her knees and into his lap. He smiled at her, blinking away the tears in his eyes now. "It's okay, Kimber. It's not your fault, and it's not mine either. It's our family's. So lets just forgive each other and deal with this together, okay?"_

_Kimber eagerly nodded and moved her arms to be hugging him normally, "Okay, big brother! It'll be okay, then." She smiled up at him before resting her head against his chest, closing her eyes and listening to his heartbeat. Between that and him rubbing her back, it wasn't too surprising when she slumped a little bit. Killua looked down to see the child had fallen asleep. He turned so that his back rested against the wall, and he closed his eyes as well after motioning Alluka over. Alluka sat next to the two and cuddled up against Killua, and both of them fell asleep until Killua was woken up because he and Kimber had to leave._

_"Come back as soon as you can, okay big brother?" Alluka whispered, so she wouldn't wake up Kimber._

_"We'll both come back as soon as we can," Killua responded, nodding. He kissed his younger sister's forehead, and smiled at her. "Sorry my time got ate up today, Alluka."_

_"It's okay, big brother. Twin needed you today," Alluka smiled. "Take care of her for me, okay Onii-chan?"_

_Killua smiled a bit more and nodded, "Yeah, I will." Alluka hugged her sleeping twin, the new warmth waking her up. Kimber's eyes fluttered open, then she realized what was happening. She hugged Alluka tight, crestfallen about having fallen asleep in the time she was allowed to spend with Alluka._

_"I'm sorry about falling asleep, twin... I promise next time the **entire** time I'm in here, I'll play with you!"_

_"Okay!" Alluka said cheerfully, smiling at both of them. "You better get going, Mommy and Daddy are gonna be angry with you if you take too long." The other two nodded. After their final goodbyes, Killua carried Kimber out since she was already drifting back asleep. He looked down at her and sighed. he knew there was nothing he could do for her but be around for moral support, and he just had to hope that that was enough._

* * *

_For the second time sense Kimber's first training day, Killua walked into Alluka's room. Once again, Kimber was curled against the wall in the same position as she had been the last time she'd seemed this upset. It'd only been a year, but that year was a crucial one for the family. Killua already knew well enough to expect this. He once again made his way across the room and got on his knees next to her. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she cringed instead of shoving it away as he had expected, "D-Don't hurt me!"_

_"Kimber, I told you before. I'm never going to hurt you," He responded, sighing and sitting indian style, "Today was your first assassination... Wasn't it?"_

_Kimber nodded frailly, "Why did they make me do that, big brother? I-I didn't know that man... T-They just told me to throw my knife at him like I do at the targets here at home. W-Why did they make me?"_

_"That's our family business, Kimber... We're assassins. It's our job to take the lives of others, whom people want dead. We are told by a client who they want gone, and we deliver their wish in return for money. Occasionally other things, but usually money..."_

_Kimber lifted her head, her movement rapid as she turned to face him. "Th-That's selfish! It's not right to take someone's life for any reason, more less just something like money! W-Why would someone be so selfish, big brother? Why is that our family business!? D-Do you kill the people too?"_

_"I don't know why it's our family business, Kimber... I just know that it has been for years," Killua sighed, looking at her eyes. Too many expressions circled through them. Confusion, fear, sadness, and anger were the most noticeable ones. He had to turn his his head away to the right a bit when he answered her last question, his eyes softly narrowing, "Y-Yeah... I kill them too..."_

_"Why, big brother? Our lives are no better than theirs, are they? S-So what gives us the right to take their lives?"_

_"No, our lives aren't better. I mean, sometimes their bad people who've killed people too... That doesn't make them different that us, though. I-I... You and I, we don't like doing this. But we do it anyways."_

_"Why do we, big brother?" Kimber asked, obviously not understanding any of it._

_Killua swallowed hard, aware they were being watched through cameras as they spoke. His eyes were shut now, his face still turned away from her. It was facing towards the floor about an eighth to the right instead, as if he were watching something there, "Kimber, today. When you assassinated- killed- that man. Why did you?"_

_"B-Because Illumi told me to. I-I wouldn't disobey him, y-you know he scares me. W-Wh-"_

_"That's why we kill the people. You and I, anyways. We're afraid of what Illumi, Mom, and Dad will say if we refuse to. We're afraid of what they'll do. So we obey them. Slowly, it starts becoming a pattern in our daily lives. And then, by time we're their age and we're under our own free will, it's so normal to us we do it anyways. Then we'll teach our children to do the same, and they'll be scared of us too..."_

_"Y-You mean because of Mom and Dad, my children will be scared of me too?" Killua nodded, and most of the emotions in her eyes turned to anger. "N-No! I don't want my kids to be scared of me! I don't want them to have to go through this too! I want them to love me, and each other! I don't want them to be cold to each other, or to be locked away from one another. I want all of my family to be together, and happy."_

_"I-I know Kimber... But by time we have to make those decisions, I expect our lives will have changed to the extent that we're like Mom and Dad..."_

_"N-No! Big Brother, promise me that you and I will be good to our kids! That this'll stop after us! W-We won't pass this on to our kids!"_

_Killua was shocked by the depth that Kimber understood this, but he also knew she was no where near **close** to understand what it all really meant. Even the promise he was being asked to make wouldn't matter, and would be forgotten. Their parents would change them too much. To console Kimber, though, he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I promise. You and I won't do what they're doing to us. I-It won't stop the family assassinations though, Illumi won't join us in our resistance..."_

_Kimber sighed and nodded. "That's okay, Big Brother. At least you and I will be putting some effort into being better. It'll be two less families that'll be bad."_

_"Right!" Killua grinned at her. He couldn't help but grin at the thought of them being able to be good parents without anything that was currently happening to them affecting them. Another thing that had him grinning was how pure Kimber's heart still was after roughly a year. He hugged her close, then looked over at Alluka. "You too, right? No being evil to your kids?"_

_"Right, Onii-chan!" Killua stood up and offered Kimber his hand, which she gratefully took. She smiled up at him before the two walked to Alluka, the three meeting in the center of the room. They began playing house, using Alluka's mass amount of stuffed animals as dividers for different rooms and as beds. When it came time for Killua and Kimber to leave, they both hugged Alluka tight and left in high spirits._

* * *

Kimber woke up to someone holding her arm, seeming gentle about it. She figured it'd be Killua or Alluka, but remembered Killua was gone, and Alluka was locked down in her room. She was laying in her own bed, and she looked to see her younger brother Kalluto wrapping bandages around her arm, dirty ones laying on the nightstand from where he'd just removed them. Kalluto looked at her, having noticed her raise her head a little bit. "Hello."

Kimber smiled slightly. "Hi, Kalluto." She didn't know Kalluto very well, she'd never had much time to get to know him. Due to this, things seemed a little bit awkward between the two. Kimber really hoped one day she'd get to know Kalluto better.

"Do you feel alright? Milluki went a little too far with your training... Even Mother and Father agreed when I explained it to them over the phone."

"I'm fine..."

"You know you don't have to worry about anyone looking down at you right now, right? You went through more training at a higher intensity than you're used to. It's normal to feel weak right now, you lost a lot of blood," Kalluto said, feeling the need to try to get a real answer from her. "Besides, the only other person home right now besides us is Milluki, and he can't hear well enough to hear us."

"I-I guess I feel a little light headed... and it hurts... My arms and my stomach..."

"It's to be expected. Mother told me to give you these if you needed them, because you have an assassination to tend to tonight," Kalluto said, handing her a couple of pain pills, "Don't worry, I checked them to the best of my ability to make sure she wasn't poisoning you." The doubt on Kimber's face disappeared with this, and Kalluto handed her a water bottle so she could swallow the pillows. When she was done, Kalluto went to the kitchen to get her lunch for her.

When Kalluto came back, he handed her a tray of food putting off the aroma of potato soup and a sandwich , which she gratefully devoured, starving. Not like she could actually starve, she'd been through training to make sure it would take much longer. "So, Kalluto. What do you like doing?" Kalluto shrugged slightly.

"Whatever Mother wants me to do."

"I see." Kimber nodded, speaking quietly. So Kalluto was brainwashed by their family too, like Illumi. She'd figured as much, since he spent so much time around their mother. Kalluto left later for his own training, leaving Kimber alone. She pushed herself up and slowly edged her way to Alluka's room. She looked at the camera right outside Alluka's door, hoping someone sat behind it. She motioned towards the door, and watched as the complicated parts of the lock came undone. She finished unlocking the door and went shut the door behind her and heard it relock. Immediately, she was almost tackled to the ground by Alluka as she was glomp-hugged by her, but Alluka quickly let go as if she were hot water when she realized it caused her twin pain.

"Twin! What's wrong? Why are your arms all bandaged up? What happened?" Alluka asked her, holding one of her bruised and bandaged arms tenderly in her hands. Kimber gently took it away.

"Nothing, just training."

Alluka frowned at her twin's simple response, knowing there had to be something more to it. "But you look and sound like you're in pain, twin. What was different about this training session? Twiiin?"

"Alluka, I promise, it's nothing. Really. Don't worry about it." Alluka hugged Kimber tight, naively forgetting it would hurt her. She clung to Kimber as if she'd disappear if she let go. "I promise, it's okay twin."

"Okaaay... For now..." Alluka said, pouting, a little bit cross that her twin wouldn't tell her what was wrong. Kimber smiled kindly and hugged her twin back, nodding. "If it gets worse though, you have to tell me what's going on. I want to help protect you, twin. Especially since Onii-chan isn't here to help you!"

Kimber smiled slightly more and patted her twin on the head, hugging her closer. "I promise, I'll be alright. Now, wanna play?"

Soon, she was called down for training again. Even after the last session, which Kalluto informed her had kept her out for 17 hours, Milluki was still permitted to train her. So she had to let him lock the final chain around her wrist, somewhat against her silent will. Afterwards, she blankly stared at him as if he weren't there as he started ranting. "Just because you were so hard to break last time doesn't mean I'm not going to try, if that was your plan! I'll make you break, or _you'll_ die trying not to!"

"Whatever you say, Milluki," Kimber responded nonchalantly. "At least you have a goal for once besides collecting as many dolls as you can in one week." Milluki growled and lashed her across the face with the electric whip, leaving only a faint mark formed on her face. She hoped the lightness of the mark would discourage him, considering how hard he'd hit her. This hope was proved to be in vein as he continued lashing at her, but soon he put the whip down. He went to light a cigarette, then saw how she looked at the flame. She hadn't intended to look at it at all, and when she realized she was she looked away as if nothing had happened.

"So is _that_ your fear then? Well we'll have to fix that, that's too simple of a fear. I'll help you get over it, little sister." He said, feigning kindness as he smirked. He made his way over to her, causing Kimber to sigh out of discontent and look away.

"Whatever makes you happy, Milluki." He slowly raised the lighter to her skin after flicking it alight, and her skin slowly caught fire. As the fire spread on one arm, he did the same to the other. She held back signs and screams of pain, despite the upped difficulty in doing such. She wasn't going to let him win, especially with cheap tactics like setting her on fire. They both knew he'd have to put the fire out soon, or the fire alarms would go off and he'd get caught. Finally he poured a liquid over only her arms; though the relief didn't last long. Whatever he poured over her arms wasn't water, and instead of soothing her it made the fresh burn marks sting horribly.

Then he started lashing at her arms, both the burnt and unburnt marks, with the electric whip. The electricity stung a lot worse with the wetness, and the rawness. Despite this, she didn't react. If she reacted, he'd get more _sick_ satisfaction out of this than he already did with being able to torture her in the first place. After a half hour or so of enduring the pain of her stinging whip and burn marks, Milluki left her hanging there to endure the lingering pain. He left after some snide remark about her smelling so badly he needed fresh air. Kimber just mentally remarked back that he smelt worse than Mike, and that they both knew he would never walk far enough to go outside.

Once he left she had to try harder to keep from making noises of pain. She didn't want to take the chance of someone hearing her, it could be fatal for her need for relief. When Milluki returned roughly an hour later, he ate a few feet in front of her, reminding her of her on-coming hunger. She'd been down here a while now, and she estimated it was getting close to dinner time. She wouldn't say anything about being hungry though, it was obvious he already knew. He stood, trying to figure out what to do next to try to shatter her willpower.

Kimber closed her eyes, pretending to be bored of the situation. Suddenly she felt something be tied around her neck. She faked not caring, allowing whatever was to happen to go on without commotion. Whatever it was was soon very tight, making it hard to breath. Then electricity coursed through her, further hindering her ability to breath. This continued for a long time, and she pushed through to not open her eyes. Eventually, she couldn't have if she'd wanted to, because she passed out from lack of air.

* * *

_Killua happily walked into Alluka's room, his walk almost a skip. The twins looked up to see their old brother, who'd been away for a while, grinning ear to ear. The moment they registered who it was, their grin matched his. Kimber's response came out before Alluka's. "Big brother!"_

_"Hi Onii-chan!"_

"_Hey there guys. Hey, Alluka, can I talk to you for a second?" Alluka nodded eagerly, and the two went off in the corner. Kimber laid back, smiling and staring at the ceiling. She was bored, but she figured they'd all start playing soon. She was still smiling when Killua walked over to her and extended his hand for hers. "You and I are gonna go to town!"_

"_We are? Why?" Kimber asked, tilting her head as she gripped Killua's hand and he pulled her up._

"_Because, it's your birthday! You never get to celebrate it, so we should."_

_"But it's twin's birthday too, so shouldn't Alluka come with us?" Killua smiled kindly, patting her gently on the head._

"_I'll celebrate with Alluka some other time."Killua noticed the child's confusion, and smiled more despite the reason he'd have to give if he was allowed." Don't worry, you'll understand why later.I don't want you worrying, so I can't tell you right now. Besides, I'm not allowed. But come on! Lets get going!" Killua said grinning, leaving Kimber unaware of what was to come. He also didn't tell her he was going to have to assassinate extra due to this, that being the agreement between him and his parents. Take Kimber out for her birthday, extra assassination missions. It was the only reason he was home, he was supposed to be in Heaven's Arena. But he left temporarily, with his parents' permission._

_Killua led his younger sister out of the house, keeping her close when they passed Mike. Not because he thought the guard dog would attack, but because he knew Mike still scared Kimber a little bit. He led her out the gate, carefully timing their descent between tourist bus arrivals. He quickly got the two of them to town, so no one would see them and link them to the Zoldycks. He grinned at her, and led her around a shopping complex for a while. He let her look through some shops, and bought her a stuffed cat she had a particular interest in. He didn't care that he was using his Heaven's Arena money, it was worth it to him._

"_What are chocolate pretzels?" Kimber asked, tilting her head when she looked at the stand selling the item. Killua looked at her, blinking out of a bit of surprise. He had forgotten for a moment that she didn't get to eat things like that a lot, and wouldn't know._

"_They're pretzels covered in chocolate. Here." He walked to the stand, holding her hand. "One bag, please." He purchased the biggest bag they sold of chocolate pretzels, and they went to the park. He led her to one of the many benches, the park thankfully being almost empty. He smiled and opened the bag, handing her a couple of the mini-pretzels inside. She looked at them, noting the thick layer of chocolate around them. She smiled and ate them, her eyes lighting up when she tasted the chocolate. Killua knew then that the extra work would be worth it. Just seeing her face at that moment alone decided that._

"_So what do you want to do when we're done eating chocolate pretzels?" Killua asked as the two continued eating from the bag._

"_What else is there to do? Y-You know I've never gotten to see what people normally do... I only get to leave the house for assassinations, remember?"_

"_Right... Hmm... Well, since we're here, we can play here for a while." He said nodding towards the swing set. Kimber nodded eagerly at the suggestion. The two continued eating chocolate pretzels for a few more minutes, then Killua placed the large bag into the navy blue backpack he was carrying, planning to finish them later. He stood up, grinning from ear to ear once again, and took Kimber's hand. He led her to the swing set, helped her sit on the new-looking yellow swing, and began pushing. He was careful not to hurt her or knock her off._

_Kimber giggled happily as she swung, discovering she liked it. Killua smiled as he listened, though sadness poisoned the smile. He had no idea if they'd ever be able to do this again, and he'd never seen her this happy before. He knew she too would have to go to Heaven's Arena soon, and it was obvious to him that it was easy to get hurt there. He also was aware that he couldn't stay there as long as she would have to, due to having gone earlier, so he'd never know if she was okay or not._

_After a while of playing in the park, swinging, sliding, playing tag, the two headed back to the main part of town. Since they were hot from the exercise, and they hadn't been trying to block off such like they would at home, Killua bought them both vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate. Kimber stuck by his side as they walked, looking around through shop windows. Her hand held his tightly, and she was only a few inches from being right against him. For some reason, being this close to her big brother made her really happy. When they finished their ice cream, Killua brought her inside the shops. Kimber finally showed interest again, particularly in a lava rock necklace displayed in a glass case. Killua bought it once he noticed her interest in it. She didn't show interest in much, probably because she wasn't supposed to really have interests at home, unless they were in assassination._

_He brought her into a small cafe around six, and ordered for them both since Kimber wasn't very familiar with anything on the menu. "So Kimber, are you having fun?"_

"_Uh-huh!" Kimber nodded eagerly, smiling at him. "Thank you, big brother!"_

_Killua chuckled, nodding. "You're welcome, Kimber." Their food got there soon, and despite the sweets they'd snacked on the whole time, they both devoured their food. When they'd paid and gotten back outside, it was starting to get cold. Killua realized she had no jacket; all of her ones at home were either formal or used for assassinations. He bought her a light grey hoodie, which she liked mostly because it was soft, and from her big brother._

_He kept one arm protectively around her, aware that most of the creepier people came out at night. He also knew he only had about an hour and seventeen minutes left until they were supposed to be home, so he left her standing outside as he bolted inside a small shop. When he came out, he had a bag full of chocolate. Not telling her what was inside, he brought her to one of the benches along the sidewalks, illuminated by the street lights. Her face lit up, seeing all the chocolate. She didn't get to eat it much at home, so today was like heaven for her. It would have been even without the chocolate, because she got to spend it with Killua._

_The two sat, eating chocolate as he explained the differences between the different types he'd bought. When they reached the bottom of the bag, he pulled out the two chocolate robots in the bottom. He handed her one of the robot-resembling blocks, smiling. "They're my favorite. You'll love it, I promise." Kimber nodded, figuring anything he liked so much she would too. He talked about chocolate robots all the time at home. She took a bite of chocolate, her face immediately lighting up once again._

_"It's great!" Killua laughed and nodded, patting her on the head. The two sat, Killua having one arm around her as they ate their chocolate robots. Kimber held the tiny blue robot from inside in her hand, which rested in her pocket once she was done. after a few minutes of being done, Killua sighed._

"_Well... We have to go home now..." After about a half a minute of silence, he realized she'd fallen asleep. He smiled and picked her up, having tossed the paper bag from the store away in the trash bin next to the bench. he put his own blue robot in his pocket and headed towards the mountain, carrying her. He would have gotten a bus up, but none of the buses ran that late up to Kukuroo Mountain. She slowly opened her eyes after a little bit and smiled, speaking quietly._

"_Thank you big brother... For everything today... Today was fun..."_

_Killua smiled and nodded. "You're welcome, Kimber. You can go back to sleep, I'll carry you." Kimber gave him a small nod and closed her eyes again, snuggling against him so she could hear his heartbeat. He smiled a bit more, though once again it was sad. He wished today could last forever, so that she didn't have to train or go through Heaven's Arena. He just prayed that she didn't get hurt there. If she did, he hoped he was around to give whoever hurt her hell._

* * *

_About six months ago, Illumi laid on his bed, secretly annoyed at his own injury. His family members stood around, wondering if they should try to get a doctor or not. He'd been stabbed on an assassination mission, and was disappointed in himself for failing. Though he had assassinated his target. Kikyo looked at Silva. "Will he be alright?"_

"_Of course he will, he's a Zoldyck isn't he?" Killua muttered, leaning against the wall in annoyance._

"_Illumi?" Kimber said quietly from the doorway. They all turned to look at her, and Illumi opened one blinked hard to blink back tears and swiftly walked over to him, past her parents. She touched her fingertips to the skin of his arm, closing her eyes and focusing. The room was dead silent as white bulbs of light left her fingertips and went into his skin, appearing a moment later at the hole in his chest, which was unchanged from the mission since he hadn't been home long. After a minute they faded away, taking the wound with them. Kimber put her hand on her own chest and looked away from them all, walking out without a word._

_Killua was unaware of her hatsu, but he was worried about her now. She looked like she was in pain when she left the room. He raced after her, not caring if Illumi was better or not. He followed her to her room, where she tried to close the door before he got there. He was faster though, and he pushed from the other side of the door. She tried to keep him out, but he was still a year older than her, and able to counter her strength. He was careful not to shove her into the wall as he shoved his way in, removing her hands from the door and closing it quietly behind him. A small blood stain was already forming on her shirt. "Kimber-"_

_"Don't worry big brother. It's only a fifth of the wound he had, so it didn't quite reach my heart I don't think... Maybe it nicked the side, but that's it. I'll be fine in a few days."_

_"Kimber, how- never mind. It doesn't matter how. __**Why**_ _did you do that? He would have been fine. He's Illumi, he's stronger than both of us combined. What if it __**had**__ affected you enough to kill you?"_

"_Well... Then mom and dad would be happy, because they'd still have their oldest child. Because if I didn't heal him, he would have died."_

"_Kimber, I don't care what happens to him, or what mom and dad want! You're more important than any of that, you hear me!? I don't want you risking your life like that again. I still don't know how you did it, and I don't care. But if it's going to get you killed, I don't want you doing it!"_

"_Okay big brother... I'm sorry..." Kimber said quietly, whimpering a little bit, and Killua realized he was yelling. He sighed and hugged her close._

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I'm not mad at you... I'm mad at them. They don't care that you healed him, just that he's healed... I hate how little they care about you..."_

_"I don't care how much they care about me, big brother. Just that you and Alluka do."_

_"But you care about Illumi too... And you care about whether or not he cares about you..."_

_"I care about them all... I mean, yes, I want Illumi to love me but... It's never going to happen. I gave up on that a long time ago, even if my goal still is to impress him. Maybe once I've done that, he will love me... Maybe..."_

"_Rilluya. It's time to train." Illumi said from outside the locked door._

"_Yes sir." Kimber said quietly, reluctantly pulling away from Killua, walking towards the door. Before she could reach it though, Killua already had. He yanked it open aggressively, glaring harshly at his older brother, who stood calmly outside with his arms loosely crossed._

"_She just saved your damn life and you can't even thank her!? What the hell! Why are you all like this!?"_

"_Like what?" Illumi asked calmly, unchanged by what Killua said._

_"Heartless! Uncaring! Ungrateful! We have the best little sister we could ask for, and you-"_

_"How would you know if she was the best? She is the only little sister we have experience with. There are probably many better girls her age, probably many that are more obedient. Ones that would listen when I told them to learn to control and tune their emotions." What Illumi was saying cutting through Kimber harsher than any training would. She figured that was his way of saying he didn't want her for a little sister, and he was disappointed in her. She pretended not to notice as she walked around Killua, careful not to so much as brush against him._

"_I shouldn't be late for training." Kimber said softly, and Illumi nodded in agreement with Kimber. He turned and walked away, Kimber following close behind. Killua wondered just exactly who she was now; ever since Heaven's Arena she seemed a lot less cheerful, a lot more serious. She hadn't gotten any serious injuries there, so he wasn't sure why. She almost never complained about training or assassinating, not even to him and Alluka. Suddenly, it struck him that she might be changed. Maybe she was becoming one of them. He shook his head as he felt like his stomach knotted. No, not her. They couldn't change her. He wouldn't let them._

* * *

"Rilluya, wake up." Kalluto's voice said, the image of Illumi and Killua vanishing from Kimber's mind. She blinked her eyes open, looking at him and smiling barely enough to be noticed. As she sat up, Kalluto spoke, "Oh good. you woke up... I was worried you wouldn't. You've been asleep three days now."

"Three? Whoops... I bet they didn't like that..." She said sighing. "Sorry to have worried you, Kalluto. I guess my body just needed time to heal after that last training session."

Kalluto just nodded simply. "You don't have much time before your next one. Do you wish to eat first?" Kimber nodded as her answer, and Kalluto quietly left to get food. While he was gone, Kimber laid back down and gazed at the ceiling. How long would she be able to keep this up? She was fairly sure her body couldn't handle being pushed past it's limits forever. Who knew how long it would take for Illumi to get back? Her lungs ached faintly, still in pain from their struggle for air. She concluded he must have left her like that for a while, making her struggle for air in her sleep, since her lungs still hurt.

Kalluto returned with a tray of food, and handed it to her in silence. Kalluto stood there for awhile, one hand holding the other's wrist in front of him, resting against his kimono. Kimber wondered if he had something to say, but decided he should make the decision to speak himself, not be pressured into it by her asking. "Rilluya? I... I was the one who found you in the chains. He'd tied more chains around your throat... I was shocked you were still alive... Did he hurt your neck or anything?"

Kimber looked at him and smiled. "No, my neck is fine. My lungs hurt a little bit, but just faintly. As long as he doesn't do it again, I'm sure my lungs will be fine by tomorrow. But that seems to be it, so don't worry, okay?"

"Okay... I was just worried. I got home close to midnight... So you must have been there for a while. U-Unless... He tortured you in different ways for that long."

"Not much longer than my usual sessions from him. He probably just got lazy and decided if I could breathe at all it was enough to keep him from getting yelled at by our parents. Thanks for not being lazy like the giant lug." Kimber said, grinning at him, before finishing her last few bites of food.

She barely caught it, but Kimber heard Kalluto's nearly silent response. "You're welcome." She smiled when she registered it. She felt bad about how little of a relationship they had, but it wasn't like she could just spend time with him. Kalluto was always with their mother, and usually she was with Killua or Alluka, if not both. After she finished eating, Kallluto returned her dishes to the kitchen. Kalluto only came back to her room to inform her she was to go down to training now. She was unaware that Kalluto hated to have to tell Kimber that, and didn't notice the slight frown Kalluto made as he left the room. Upon standing up, she realized she was weak when she walked, but she pushed through it and made it down to the room in time.

She hung herself in the chains, and was practically limp when Milluki came in and closed the last cuff. She felt the whip, but she was mentally numb for the first little bit, so she didn't react. She eventually realized she was in pain, and therefore was snapped into reality. She found the struggle not to react to the pain much more difficult this time around, which worried her since it should be getting easier. She kept her eyes shut, even when the whip stopped. She felt someone start slicing her back, but she bit back the pain for the sake of her pride. She couldn't let Milluki win, not after this long of fighting back. She would never let Milluki win.

"You little brat, you can't keep this up forever. You may be strong enough mentally to not react, but your body is reacting. I can see you tensing up in anticipation of my next attack." _Slash_. "And you're getting weaker. You can't handle it, you little wanna-be show off."_ Slash. Slash._

"My goal never was to 'handle it'. It was to not give you what you wanted, which was for me to verbally react." Milluki just growled in irritation, creating deeper gashes in her back. She kept silent throughout it, determined to reach her goal. When Illumi and Killua came home, she still would be standing her ground. That was her goal. _Never_ react. _Slash. Slash. Slash._

Soon he started slicing at her arms, though it didn't last quiet as long, four or five gashes on either arm and he got bored. He saw her eyes were closed, so he cut her right cheek. He didn't go very deep though, he couldn't risk permanently screwing something up and getting in trouble for it."Wake up, brat!"

"I am awake," Kimber said quietly right after.

"Than act like it! Open your damn eyes!"

"Why would I do that? I've memorized every inch of the room by now, especially since you keep me in here longer than you're supposed to. So there's really no point, I could tell you where anything is with my eyes closed. Even you, you don't conceal your heartbeat or movements at all. In fact, you breathe louder than a _normal_ person, more less an assassin." _Slash_. This time it was a centimeter or two deep in her stomach. She didn't flinch, but it was larger than the rest. She was losing blood a lot faster now.

He burnt her again, mostly her feet and hands this time. Again, whatever liquid he put it out with stung horribly. Kimber was fighting to stay coherent, but as usual the amount of time she was able to stay conscience was shorter than the last. Milluki beat at the unconscious Kimber until he grew bored, and then alerted Kalluto she was ready to be brought back to her room. He went to his own room to play video games. When Kalluto came into the room, he was quiet for the first moment he was there as he stared at his sister that hung in her cuffs. She had blood on her back, arms, legs. She had more burn marks, more whip marks, more _everything_. She was only getting worse, Milluki wasn't giving her enough time to heal before he multiplied the wounds. This wasn't how Zoldyck trained, this made the training pointless, even counter-productive.

Kalluto had to get a step stool to uncuff Kimber, careful not to let her drop. After he uncuffed her wrists, he supported her with one arm as he undid the cuffs on her ankles. He hadn't wanted to let her hang by just her wrists, that would have put a lot more stress on her arms, which would have made her cuts bleed worse. He inevitably got blood on his kimono, but he knew it would wash out from past experience. He carefully picked her up and carried her to her room in silence.

He carefully cleaned her wounds, then made a point of being careful while wrapping them in bandages, especially when it came to her back and stomach. He knew she was already struggling enough, she didn't need to have to fight to breath. He wrapped her arms up next, a slight sad tint in his eyes as he looked at the carelessly deep cuts. If Milluki didn't start being careful, he could completely ruin her arms and hands. She didn't have anything in need of bandaging on her legs, the whip marks were mostly just small pieces of electrocuted skin. He carefully wrapped the burn marks on her feet, and put her long sleeved grey shirt and grey pants over her bandages. "_Sorry, Nee-san."_

Though he'd left, Kalluto was by her bed the next day when she woke up. The younger felt some odd sense of sadness when she smiled at him. He didn't know why it had this effect of sadness on him, but he figured it was because she seemed so feeble when she smiled. She tried to push herself into sitting up, but she couldn't muster enough strength and quickly fell back the inch she'd risen up. She let her arms straighten out loosely on the bed, relaxing and spreading out her fingers, just trying to focus and get a grip. She couldn't focus at all though. She felt like her strength was still slipping away.

"Are you alright, Rilluya?" Kalluto asked. She looked at him and gave him a small smile and nodded once, though afterwards she felt light-headed. Despite this, she lied to Kalluto since she didn't want him to worry.

"I'll be alright."

"_I don't think so... You should have seen yourself hanging in your chains. You're losing the battle, Rilluya. You need to stop taunting Milluki during your training, I can hear you occasionally... He's going to end up killing you if you keep taunting him._" Kalluto thought, but he said nothing. He didn't want to be negative about her trying to progress, despite the fact he didn't approve of how badly it was going. He watched her struggle to try to set up again, and just before she would've collapsed he put one arm around her shoulders and one around her stomach. He helped her set up, then released her. She smiled at him as thanks, and he let the corner of his mouth twitch to a smile for just a second. "Are you hungry?"

Kimber shook her head, "I think this training is starting to affect my hunger..."

"You should eat, you need to build your strength back up after all the training you've been through... Mom and dad lighten up on our physical training when they train us to be resistant to starvation. This is because it's hard to be physically weak and be hungry from separate causes. They can do it now, but we're still in training."

Kimber noticed the concern in her younger brother's voice, so she nodded. She was hoping eating would help console him. "Alright, I'll eat." Kalluto nodded and left the room to get food. Once he was gone, Kimber sighed and closed her eyes. She listened closely for Kalluto to return, upset that he was worried. Seeing her as she was sure she looked at that moment was just going to worry him more. She knew she had to look as _defeated_ as she felt.

Kimber slept the rest of the day, until about an hour before she had to leave to preform an assassination that had been scheduled three weeks prior. It was seven at night when she woke up, and it took her a good half hour to get up and get properly dressed. She struggled to get dressed, but she manged to do so. She looked at herself in the mirror after finishing pulling on her black sleeveless shirt, which covered a bulletproof vest. She then had to pull on a long sleeved black shirt, and a black leather jacket. She also had to pull on black pants over thin armor, enhanced with nen to deflect most weapons. Add the black leather boots, and that was it. She rebraided her dark brown hair, placing black ponytail holders to keep it together. She had to protect her head herself, through her pain and dizziness she already had.

She left the house just barely on time, prepared with what she'd need to execute the assassination. She walked silently along the streets, then the empty space between there and her destination, soon making her way to another mansion off in the middle of no where. She stilly slipped past the outer defenses, simple guards. Then she had to carefully dodge and deflect bullets from a set of turrets that could be easily set of by a simple bird. This was a bit simpler due to the fact the turrets were all the way across they yard, and the fact that no one suspected much do to the sensitivity. She knew this from the report on the defenses given to her by their client, who evidently knew the place well. She then had to disappear from sight long enough for the next set of guards to determine she'd just been some animal, and she had to sneak past them.

Then she waited inside a indent in the wall for a routine guard switch, having to sneak inside as the doors were opened without being seen. She then had to be swift and silent enough to not be caught on camera, down to a room in the basement. She found a man there, who was sitting in a cushy leather chair. The entire wall he face looked to be built with high definition monitors, and the computer he sat directly in front of probably had cost a pretty penny as well. She took a deep breath and pulled a single knife from a sheath of them on the inside of her jacket sleeve. She adroitly tossed it at him, and it pierced his heart deep and fast enough to make him drop dead a moment later. This was a common scene for her, though she still hated it. The familiarity didn't give her a sense of warmth and relief, but of cold and disappointment in herself.

To make mental matters worse, that wasn't even her target, the loss of that life was so her target couldn't be alerted. She then snuck her way up to the top floor, going past several waves of guards without being detected. She made her way to a large bedroom, where a man laid on a large bed with silk coverings, surrounded by the best objects for entertainment money could buy. Top of the line computers, TVs, furniture any commoner would give limbs for, and bookshelves with rare things like gems and fossils. There was an entire wall that was an aquarium, which contained at least a few rare fish that Kimber recalled. The man didn't seem to notice her at all as he kept his eyes on the fish.

Her assumptions were changed as she pulled a knife out of her sheath. "What is it, dear? Are you here because of one of my enemies?"

Suddenly, the walls of the hallways were lined with guards. Kimber took a deep breath. "_Keep calm, Kimber. They're just guards, you've killed dozens of them in just the past few months alone. You're a Zoldyck, you can handle every person in this man's staff if you need to._"_  
_

"Dear, aren't you going to answer my question? It seems a bit odd to have such a small child committing assassinations, so you could honestly be here for another reason. Won't you tell me your reasoning for intruding?"

Kimber kept silent. She was taught not to respond to questions at all from anyone except her allies and her client when it came to assassination missions. Instead, she sent a knife flying through the air into the man's heart with the swiftness she'd been trained to have. She was gone before the man dropped dead, but she heard gun shots fire and arguing over who'd shot him as well.

As she snuck her way back out, she felt a wave of light-headedness hit her. She fell to her knees, and the guards who still remained out of the previous area turned around to see her. She immediately moved her arms up to cover her head, ashamed to have been caught in a moment of weakness, but no bullets fired. She looked up just in time to see them all drop to the floor. She blinked, then Kalluto came out from around the corner. "I predicted this might happen, you barely made your way out of the house... I figured I'd follow you, and if nothing happened, what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you."

Kimber sighed, knowing if anyone in her family found out she hadn't detected Kalluto she'd get in trouble. Kalluto walked over to her and extended his hand. "Don't worry, Mother thought it was a good idea too. She does know you're training has been to much, she's said so herself," Kimber mentally relaxed a bit, not daring to do so physically since she feared she might give out. "She told me to keep hidden from you unless it was necessary, though." She took Kalluto's hand, and he supported her on their way out. She saw he'd killed all the guards, so they didn't have to worry about that. It was the turrets.

"Kalluto, I don't want you getting hurt out here because of me. I'm wearing bulletproof material, I'll be fine. I won't be fine if you get shot because of me."

"I'll meet you on the other side then?" Kalluto asked, and Kimber nodded. The two crossed the front yard, Kalluto managing to dodge all of the bullets. Kimber dodged a rough majority of them, but a few panged against her armor. Kalluto started supporting Kimber the moment they both arrived on the other side. As the two walked, Kalluto kept sneaking glances at his older sister. He normally never got to spend any time around her; he was always with his mother. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to be with his sister. He knew life had to go on, Rilluya had to get better, and he had to go back to being with his mother when he was at home again. That would be okay though, at least he'd gotten to experience the moments.

Once they neared the Zoldyck Estate, he had to stop supporting Kimber for the sake of Kimber's pride around their family. Instead, he just stayed close, making sure he could catch her if she fell. They entered the estate, and went their separate ways. Kalluto went to join his mother, and Kimber went to recap the mission with his father. She knocked three times on his door, and after a moment his voice came from the other side, "Come in."

Kimber opened the door as casually as she could, closing it behind her. She walked until she was only six or seven feet in front of where he sat, and then she bowed. "Good evening, Father."

"Good evening, Rilluya. How did the assassination go?"

"The target was assassinated," Kimber knew not to lie to her father, so she continued. "but unfortunately, I was spotted. Before I could withdraw my weapon, he had somehow alerted his guards. Many of them came and prepared to shoot, but I assassinated the man and removed myself from the room.

"With your current condition, that will be accepted as a success. Please try not to be spotted in the future, it's for your own good. If someone took a picture of you or got a good enough look at you to either draw you or describe you to someone so you can be drawn, you could be attacked easier. Despite the fact it would be no issue for you to deflect the attacks, I don't want my daughter to be dealing with such."

"Yes sir. Sorry, Father. I will do my best to progress and do better in the future," Silva nodded, which was his way of dismissing Kimber. She stepped out of the room and gently closed the door, then gave a silent sigh of relief. "_Thank God, he wasn't mad._"

Kimber made her way up to her room, and took roughly twenty minutes to return to her normal clothes. She wore practically the same thing she always wore when she wasn't on assassinations or training. She pulled on her dark grey long sleeved shirt with the darker grey - nearly black - ribbon-looking pattern weaving up from her elbows to her wrists, doing nothing but keeping a pattern. No tightness, nothing. Just there so she didn't wear solid grey as she used to. She also wore grey pants, and currently went barefoot. It stung and burnt horribly to have socks rubbing against the burn marks on her feet, so she figured she'd do her best to not to have to wear socks for a while.

Kimber sighed as she collapsed onto her bed, "Stupid Milluki..."

* * *

Kimber was hanging limply from her chains as the faint crack of the whip sounding through the rooms. But it _was_ faint, and sometimes she never felt it. Though sometimes when the whip struck her skin, pain shot through her like a rocket. What was wrong with her? She couldn't get herself to open her eyes, and she wouldn't say she too weak. She kept telling herself she just didn't want to bad enough, that she didn't _need_ the pain to stop that badly. She heard the sound of Milluki's voice, but his words were disoriented. Why couldn't she hear him? He was mad now, probably because she hadn't responded. She didn't know a whip could move that fast, nor did she know Milluki could swing it that fast.

Soon she felt him cut her from one shoulder blade to the other, cutting the back of her shirt a bit. He did the same down her back, and then started shredding the skin on her shins. She struggled to bite back sounds and screams of pain. Why was it harder than when she started. All she knew was she was bleeding an abundance of blood again, and she wouldn't last long this training session. She felt him pour something into the cuts which burnt horribly. The surge of pain was just enough to knock her out this time.

* * *

_Kimber stood in front of Illumi, blood crusting her hands and caking her boots. She was nine, and had just completed an assassination mission. She was panting still since she had came there the moment the person's heart had been pierced, and it only took her about fifty second to arrive. Had she not been panicked, she wouldn't be struggling for air. But the mission didn't go as cleanly as hoped. "T-They had beasts... And a lot more guards than we estimated."_

"_And it pushed you back by ten full minutes? It shouldn't have been difficult to sneak past them," Illumi responded nonchalantly, not cutting any slack for the poor nine year old._

"_The beasts had an advanced sense of smell like Mike, they could smell me out. There was no way for me to avoid it, sir."_

"_Then you shouldn't have gotten so close. I guess that means your curiosity got the better of you."_

"_They smelt me before I reached the property, I-I didn't even know they were there until they attacked me!" Illumi looked at the harsh gash on her left shoulder which had coated most of her shoulder with dark, thick blood. Neither of them had not paid attention to it before._

"_You could have done better. Did you complete the assassination?"_

_Kimber sighed, hanging her head in shame. Illumi was never pleased with her. "Yes sir, I did. The target is dead." Illumi nodded and silently walked away, not caring enough to ask if her shoulder was alright. "Just you wait Illumi... I'll impress you one day." Kimber thought stubbornly before following her older brother._

* * *

"Welcome home, Killua." Kikyo said, patting her son affectionately on the head. He glared hatefully, and then questioningly looked around. Something was missing. "Are you looking for your welcoming committee? Well, Kimber's being trained by Milluki right now-"

"Milluki!? Who the hell let _Milluki_ train her! He'll go overboard!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't left so that Illumi had to go after you, she wouldn't have had to been trained by Milluki. Silva, Zeno, and I have been busy, we've had no time to train her. And Kalluto here is too young to train her. Rest assured though, I have had Kalluto tend to Kimber's wounds after each session," _Wounds._ If he'd hurt her badly enough that they would feel the need to heal her, Milluki had to have hurt her pretty bad. He felt panic hit him like a bullet. If Milluki had carried out her training the whole time he was gone, she had to be in bad shape. "You must be punished though, so I can't let you see her."

"Just let me see her and I won't give you any trouble, alright! I won't try to leave, I won't try to fight back, I won't do anything to contridict my punishment! Just let me see her," Killua replied, knowing that would be the only thing to possibly get him permission to see her. Kikyo dramatically sighed and nodded, and Killua ran off to where Kimber had always been trained. As he ran, he thought of Kimber. Hanging in the chains, waiting for training to end. Waiting for Illumi to get back so that her training can go back to normal. Knowing it was his fault Illumi left in the first place. Probably thinking he didn't care, that because he wasn't here it didn't matter.

* * *

_The air had a cold tint to it while Kimber and Killua sat outside on top of the mansion's roof. The wind blew softly as they sat about a foot apart, looking out over the Zoldyck estate and some of the town below in the distance. The town illuminated the darkness a little bit, not much but enough to take note of it. It was quiet, minus the wind rustling the leaves of the trees occasionally. A couple of empty chocolate bar wrappers laid to Killua's right, nailed down by a rock so that he didn't get in trouble for letting his trash scatter. He'd shared it with Kimber of course, but that was about an hour ago. They'd been quiet for at least half of that time, and it was worrying Killua that Kimber wasn't speaking. She was always eager to speak with him. "You alright? Is something bothering you?"_

"_I'm fine," Kimber said quietly, though her quiet, shaky tone let Killua know otherwise. He sat up, having been propping himself up with his hands previously, and looked at her, sitting indian style with his hands in his lap._

"_Aww, come on. Tell me what's wrong, I wanna fix it. You know you can talk to me, and there's no one else here you can talk to besides Alluka. You shouldn't keep stuff that's worrying you all to yourself like that, and since you don't get to talk to Alluka often... Tell me. Please?" Killua asked, looking at the nine year old next to him. She looked at him and sighed._

"_That's just it. I miss Alluka... And I want Alluka to be able to see this," She said, motioning towards the view in front of them with one hand, keeping her other arm around her knees. "Instead she's kept locked up in that stupid room... She has to be so bored... And lonely. I don't want my twin to feel like that! I want to help I can't fight mom and dad, or Illumi for that matter... I probably couldn't even defeat Kalluto with all the time he spends around mom. I just want my twin to be allowed to come outside like we do, big brother. I don't like the thought of... Of something happening to her, and her not having seen the world outside of that little room of hers. I know she saw it when she was little... That doesn't count though, because no one remembers things from when they were that young! Besides, that was a long time ago! No one deserves to be just locked up in a room like that... No one..."_

"_Oh, I see..." Killua said softly, nodding in agreement. "I've thought about that too. It's not at all fair... But there's nothing we can do." Kimber sighed, bowing her head sadly again, still hugging her knees as if letting go would make that cold truth even more real.. Killua desperately wanted to make her feel better though. " B-But! I promise, one day, all three of us can leave together. And then we won't have to worry about training, or assassination. Just the three of us, we'll have fun together. Okay?"_

_Kimber looked at him, tears in her eyes. She smiled a little bit anyway, and nodded. "Okay big brother." She looked back out over the estate, her eyes latching on the town. "I-I'm cold, big brother." Killua moved closer, putting his arm gently but firmly around her. She rested her head on his shoulder, moving as close to him as she could. It was faint, but she could hear his heartbeat, and that was all she needed. Before either of them knew it, Kimber slid down a bit. Killua was worried at first, but then realized she'd fallen asleep. He smiled and pulled her into his lap, hugging her close. He ran his fingers along her dark brown braids, humming for a little bit. Normally, this kept the nightmares away. He figured she could use some good sleep._

_When it came close to Kimber's actual bedtime, he quietly shoved the wrappers in his pocket to throw away later. He stood up, holding Kimber closely. He carefully made his way inside as quietly as he could, but intercepted him just inside the door that brought them inside. "What were you two doing on the roof after dark?"_

_Killua looked at Kimber, worried Kikyo's voice would wake her up. Her eyes remained relaxed and shut though, so he smiled for just a moment then looked back at his mother. "We were just relaxing. Neither of us had anything scheduled, and we had plenty of time before bed. It isn't even time for Kimber to go to bed quite yet, but she's already asleep. I still have another good forty minutes. So it didn't interfere with our schedules or anyone else's. I didn't think there'd be an issue."_

_Kikyo sighed, "Alright, fine. Just go put Kimber in bed." Killua nodded and quietly, carefully carried Kimber towards her room. When he reached it, he gently pushed the door open with the toe of his shoe and went over to her bed. He laid her down on the bed, taking her boots off of her feet and laying them in their respective space in front of her closet. He went back to her and grinned pridefully, seeing she was smiling, and kissed her forehead before heading to his own room._

* * *

Killua felt more panicked as this memory passed through his mind, running faster. Would he not be able to go up to the roof with her anymore? Were his days of sneaking chocolate with her over? He burst through the door of the main training room. He sped through straight to where Milluki stood, his fat figure blocking Killua's view of Kimber until he dodged around him. When he saw her limply hanging there, his fury momentarily turned to horror and sadness. Seeing her hanging there passed out sliced through him coldly like a knife. His horror changed back to fury when Milluki hit her with the whip again, knowing Milluki was fully aware of the fact that she was asleep. He took the whip from Milluki and tossed it away, turning his nails to claws as he turned to face Milluki. "Kil. you know you can't kill him, you're not allowed to kill anyone inside the family."

Killua froze with fear when he heard Illumi's voice, turning to look behind him with an expression that made him look like a kid from a horror movie. He looked at Kimber, then back to Illumi. "He's trying to kill her! H-He shouldn't dish out what he can't take!"

"But he hasn't. You_ would_ kill him, which is forbidden, Kil."

"Don't you even care about our little sister, Illumi!? Look at her!" Killua motioned towards the unconscious Kimber, who was unmoving as she hung in the chains. "She's dying! She's never been that pale before, and look at all her injuries! He was trying to kill her without straight out pulling a knife on her! He should be punished for it!"

"That is a decision to be made by our mother and father. Until then, we can't do anything about it. Now I suggest you retract your claws, and you get Rilluya to her room to rest," Killua sighed, reaching up and carefully undoing her chains, making sure she didn't fall in the process. He held her carefully, trying his best not hurt her anymore than she already had been. With a final cold, angry glare in Milluki's direction, Killua left the room. Illumi looked at Milluki, his face blank of expression, "You shouldn't have gone over her appointed training time."

"What the hell, are _you_ defending her now!?"

"No. I am not defending her. I am defending her training. It's pointless to train at all if you're going to train overtime. We schedule set training times so that we strengthen our bodies and build resistance overtime instead of pushing them beyond their limits. Not only have you not at all increased her training, but you've most likely pushed her further back than she already was. She's never going to become a proper assassin if we don't train her as she should be trained."

"_So_? What does it matter if the _**brat**_ is trained right? She has no chance of being as good as the rest of the family! Besides, we already have three assassins in the kin, why do we need four? The family will lose track of all the assassins if you all get married and have as many kids as our family has!"

"That is none of your concern, Milluki. Just know if you make another attempt to ruin her training, I will have a discussion with our parents about it. At that point I will have no choice but to encourage them to punish you for trying to prolong her training. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir..." Milluki mumbled irritably as he stomped out of the room, pouting as usual.

Their conversation was none of Killua's concern though. All the concern he had right now was going towards the dead weight in his arms. He did his best not to look down at her; it'd only make him want to kill Milluki more. In turn, that would get him in trouble with Illumi, which would probably make his punishment last longer. Then he couldn't check on her and make sure she was getting better. He wasn't using his assassin's speed to reach her room, he was afraid of hurting her while doing so. He looked down at her and sighed. "Kimber..."

* * *

"_Hi big brother..." The seven year old slumped into the front room, quietly closing the door behind her. She smiled weakly at her older brother, her eyes partially closed. He himself smiled warmly, having been waiting on her to come in for the past half hour. He promised her he'd be there waiting for her. She had to complete five assassinations by herself today, on three different continents. She'd woken up at two in the morning to leave, and now it was nine at night._

_After hugging the tired child, Killua grinned and took her hand, leading them to her room. He went inside with her, and pulled out four thick chocolate bars. Kimber immediately seemed to wake up a bit, her still worn out face lighting up when she saw it. He handed her two of them, and started unwrapping his first. She unwrapped her first one as well, and then they sat there munching on their chocolate as Killua kept one arm protectively around her,"How'd it go today?"_

"_I completed the missions... So, I guess good? At least I won't be getting in trouble with Illumi or our parents for failing a mission..." Chills went down the younger child's back as she thought of the punishments she'd received for failing before. Typically Illumi delivered them, and they were much more brutal than her training sessions. She deflected the memories as she smiled up at Killua. "Thank you for the chocolate, big brother."_

_Killua grinned at her, ruffling her hair. "No problem, Kimber." Kimber giggled quietly before returning to eating her chocolate._

_When the two finished their chocolate, Killua tossed the wrappers into her trash bin. He heard an odd noise, but was tuning it out. He looked at Kimber, about to tell her he had to go, though he didn't want to. Then he realized the noise he was tuning out was her snoring softly. He smiled and pulled her closer for a moment, before carefully laying her down on her bed. He picked her shoes up off the floor from where she'd taken them off when they got in her room and put them where they belonged. Since it was a bit cold, he covered her with a dark brown and orange blanket. Afterwards, he quietly left the room._

* * *

Killua pushed the memory from his mind, since his head was telling him that those moments wouldn't happen anymore. That was wrong. She was going to be fine, and he would protect her from their family even more so now than before. He wasn't going to leave here alone _ever_ again. He hugged her closer as he turned the corner, and he slowly walked to Kimber's room just two doors down. He closed her cracked open bedroom door on his way in, and laid her on the bed. "I'm sorry, Kimber…" Killua said quietly as he positioned her comfortably on the bed. He sat on the edge of it, brushing her bangs into a normal position, considering they were messed up from training.

After a half hour of Killua mumbling quietly to Kimber, the door to her bedroom opened. Killua jumped defensively to his feet, slowing growing out his claws. Illumi stepped through the doorway, Silva, Kikyo, and Kalluto following behind. "When do you suppose she'll wake up?" Kikyo asked Silva, looking at her then him.

"Hard to tell. It's taken her days the past few sessions. Considering this only seems to be getting worse, I think it'll take roughly a week. What do you think, Illumi? Any difference in your estimate?"

Illumi slowly took Kimber's hand and checked her pulse, then just barely touched the back of his hand to Kimber's forehead. Killua hid how nervous he was about these interactions as he watched, and anxiously awaited Illumi's answer. "I don't think she'll be waking up anytime soon."

"Wait, is she dead!?" Killua held back the urge to roll his eyes at his mother's reaction. He said she wouldn't wake up soon, not that she was dead. Then it hit him. Was Illumi just dodging the words 'she's dead'? Surely not, Illumi wouldn't care to come out and pronounce her dead. Unless he just didn't want to deal with their mother's reaction.

"No, she's not dead. I'm fairly certain she will be asleep for quite a while. The training was too much, her body needs time to recover." Illumi explained this as Killua looked at Kimber, her skin as pale as a ghost's. Killua looked up at Illumi, refraining from the deadly glare he wanted to send his way. He kept reminding himself it wasn't Illumi's fault she'd been hurt so badly, it was Milluki's. Also his parents, for sending Illumi after him. Actually, it was technically Illumi's fault for obeying. Which wrapped it back to his very own fault for leaving.

He pushed these harsh reminders from his head, refraining from grimacing. "So she's just... in a coma?" The word just didn't fit quite right. It was smaller than being dead, but bigger than just simply being asleep. She'd been pushed way beyond her limits, and now was going to be asleep to rest and heal for a long time due to it. To him, that was precious time he was losing with his sister, but to his family it was precious training time they were losing in addiction to her advancement being pushed back from Milluki's 'training'.

"That is basically the case," Illumi nodded. "I cannot estimate a time for her to wake up. All I can say is it will probably take a few weeks."

Killua started shaking with both the fear of losing Kimber, and anger at Illumi. If Illumi had just left him alone and stayed home, Kimber would've been trained by Illumi. Not Milluki. Then, she wouldn't be in this condition. "So she'll be asleep for a few weeks. Is she fine besides that?"

"Judging by the marks on her head, she also could have some amnesia," Illumi said simply, as if he was just informing them that his hair was black. "I doubt it will last, and I doubt it will take all of her memories."

Killua froze completely, not moving at all. He didn't even blink. Thinking about Kimber not remembering the things he'd worked so hard to make happen so she could be happy, it hurt worse than any wound his training had caused him. He didn't _want_ her to forget those things. There were so few good memories for either of them, he knew forgetting just one of them could change her to a drastic degree.

"Kil, now that you've seen Kimber, it's time you receive your punishment for running away," His mother's voice shattered his thoughts. He looked at her with a look sharp as a knife. He wanted to kill every last one of them this given moment in cold blood, but he knew he couldn't. He would never be allowed to. He had to put up with his family whether he liked the situation, them, or anything they did. He bowed his head with the shame and disappointment of the worthless older brother he currently felt like, and slowly followed his parents with a walk of the lost.

"Kil, pay attention to your mother. She is talking to you," Silva said, but Killua just robotically nodded. "Killua."

"Yes sir," Silva and Kikyo gave up talking to him, figuring he was a lost cause for right now. They chained him up and walked away, but he seemed not to notice. He looked up when he heard heavy walking, and saw Milluki come through the doorway into the training room. He mentally growled, but he just hung there and stared blankly at the fat lug. "_Disgusting sewer rat._"

Milluki's taunts didn't reach Killua, but he was aware that the fat blob was talking. He pretending not to notice when Milluki started whipping him "_If my little sister can handle this, so can I_."

The whip kept stinging Killua's skin, feeling like small waves of electricity in a way. He knew this wasn't the electric whip though. It wasn't hard to will himself to ignore the whip, he did it all the time. However, it was hard to ignore the thoughts of Kimber. She was laying upstairs, alone. She'd been tortured beyond her limits, and it all came down to him. If he'd never left, Illumi wouldn't have either. Then, Kimber wouldn't be in a coma. It _was_ his fault. He couldn't change that now. He could only hope to help it by being with Kimber once his punishment was over.


End file.
